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Greg Neilson
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Exit Strategy |
| When the need for a particular technology cools down, when exactly should you leave it behind? |
| by Greg Neilson |
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9/23/2003 -- The juxtaposition of a couple of Novell stories recently -- more layoffs and the rumors that further development in NetWare may be suspended -- highlight the decisions that those of us working in the IT field must make in determining which technologies to concentrate on, and when. Of course, NetWare has been in decline for a number of years, and many have already left the fold for greener pastures, but for those who still primarily work with this technology, they need to make a decision on where to head next.
Now, I've been accused before of being a Novell-hater, but I have to tell you that nothing could be further from the truth. As the holder of the Master CNE certification, it certainly would be in my interests for NetWare to continue to prosper. Also, there were a couple of times in the mid-'90s when I came very close to working for Novell. But the sad reality is that the market has decided to move to other platforms.
This isn't just an issue for those working with NetWare. C/C++ programmers have to decide whether they should move to Java or C#, or perhaps stay where they are. Of course, there is no reason why someone can't learn the basics of all of these languages, but to really master them professionally takes considerable time and lessons that can only be learnt from using them in major projects.
Continuing on from the NetWare example, many of these folks are becoming Windows AD experts (which leverages their X.500 directory knowledge from NDS/eDirectory) or moving to Linux. The Linux option seems to be attractive since as well as being a growing in usage it is part of the Novell product plans. (Many long-term Novell watchers would recognize the similarity to how Novell had earlier hoped to catch the Java wave to boost the usage of NetWare as a platform for applications, and how this never caught on).
But there's always the timing issue. I recently had to hire a senior NetWare support person for our team, and I really struggled to find someone with the depth of skills required for the job. So while it is certainly true that there still are NetWare implementations out there, it seems that the people are moving to other areas faster than the underlying technology is. The irony here is that the dearth of senior skilled people available to support it may hasten the decline of NetWare. For example, my team still has some OS/2 servers supported for one of our clients, and although these still run well, it is exactly because of the lack of talent that the client plans to have these migrated onto other platforms by the end of the year.
Technologies move in cycles, and whether we make conscious decisions or not, our careers need to move on from one to another to stay employable. What are you thoughts on this subject? When do you know when a technology is in decline? How do you know when a new technology has reached critical mass? When is the right time to move to a new technology? Let me know by posting below. 
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Greg Neilson, MCSE+Internet, MCNE, PCLP, is a Contributing Editor for Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine and a manager at a large IT services firm in Australia. He's the author of Lotus Domino Administration in a Nutshell (O'Reilly and Associates, ISBN 1-56592-717-6). You can reach him at Attn: Greg.
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More articles by Greg Neilson:
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There are 31  user Comments for “Exit Strategy”
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Page 2 of 4
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| 10/9/03: To prick above says: |
If I was sitting in a help desk, I'd be answering phones. As I sit here monitoring and surveying the heart of our network(you know, stuff you probably don't really do Mr. Help Desk) I look around and see millions of dollars worth of Sun, Cisco, Marconi, Dell, SGI, and HP equipment. Our data farm is one of the largest in the country. So, Mr. Help Desk hot shot above, what exactly is your level of knowledge? You simply read something off the net from a guy who has blown things out of proportion before and take it as the holy grail. Once you leave the help desk and actually start working in a real IT capacity then come here and talk. Until then, stay off this site which is supposed to be for certified IT professionals! |
| 10/9/03: Mom is that u? says: |
Mom, I told you to stop posting on this site...Listen Mr. "The IT Universe Revolves Around Me" who probably works for a company that is cooking the books longer that a steaming pile of dog cr@p in the midday sun - I actually work for a Fortune 100 company and am surrounded by the same equipment as yours, LUCKLY minus the SUN and SGI crap (SGI is another company well past it's prime - the only thing they can do is not keep of what source code they contributed to who, and was it SCO's IP) yet I choose not to sit here and spout about how intelligent I am or how my company won't survive if I leave or how I monitor the heartbeat of a fine tuned circulatory system of bullsh1T. The only certification you have is "Certified Egomaniac". Now for the obligatory derrogative speak...Blow me you pr0n downloading hack. |
| 10/9/03: Anonymous says: |
Yeah...Novell rules...rules what? That's why they just bought Ximian...and are throwing everything they can into Linux. |
| 10/10/03: To 10-9 "To prick above says" says: |
I agree, stop patting yourself on the back, you obviously know nothing! |
| 10/10/03: Anonymous says: |
I for one welcome our new egomaniacal overlords....p.s. Sun does suck. |
| 10/10/03: HEHE says: |
Children, children, children...this is Mom speaking. After all this spatting over how good of an IT guru you all claim to be, does anyone still use what their parents gave them "down there." I wonder if any of you still look at someone of the opposite sex sometimes...my goodness. IT'S FRIDAY PEOPLE, NO GO OUT AND GET SOME FRESH AIR (among other things:))!!! |
| 10/10/03: Anonymous says: |
All you Sun equipment are belong to us! |
| 10/10/03: What??? says: |
"Anon 10-10"--What the hell did you just say? Back to preschool! |
| 10/10/03: Anonymous says: |
get with the program...it's very clear what he is saying. |
| 10/10/03: What?? says: |
Again, what the hell is he, or you, saying??? |
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